Zoids: A Time of War
by Liger of Destruction
Summary: This story has been put on hiatus until being re-opened in the early to mid stages of 2012.    I send my regret and apologies to readers of the series.
1. Prologue: Telling the Story

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Prologue – Telling the Story**

"Many years ago, there was a war that took place, and it raged on for years, with no sign of stopping. Our strongest warriors perished before the Old Empire, and our whole continent was under threat of their terrible reign. Looking back on those years spent fighting, and all the friends I've lost, I wonder why I wasn't one of the many brave soldiers who died fighting."

As a teenage boy watched his grandfather telling the story of his days in the Army, a smile grew on his face. "Please, keep going. I love this story."

"There's only so many times you can here the same story, Ace," his grandfather, better known as Kad, said.

"What was it like to pilot a real zoid?"

"It was an unforgettable experience. If I had one wish, it would be to just be able to sit in my old Tiger. Him and I were a real force to be reckoned with. Everyone in the brigade always thought I was weird, but they didn't understand the amazing bond we shared."

"Could I have my own zoid if I joined the army?"

"Believe me, Ace. You don't want to join the army."

"Why not?" he asked. "What's so bad about joining the Republic Army?"

"If you join the army, you'll see all of your best friends get killed in battle, and you can never live with the fact that you let your friends die."

"Do you think the Old Empire might ever reform and try and take over the continent again, grandpa?"

"If it does, I'll be the first one to take them on. I'm not letting all of my friends die in order for the Empire to strike once more." Kad got up from his seat and headed over to his refrigerator.

Ace's mind began to wander and he came up with more and more questions. "Grandpa, did you ever use a different zoid? A zoid other than your Zaber Tiger?"

"I got to pilot many different zoids throughout my days in the army. There was a Redler, a Command Wolf, and even a Shield Liger. But none of them came even close to my Zaber Tiger." Kad opened his drink and took a mouthful. After he swallowed he paused and asked "When you're old enough, how about I take you out to get a zoid of your own?"

"Really? Grandpa, that would incredible!" Ace jumped up and hugged his grandfather. "I can't believe you would get me a zoid."

"You deserve it, Ace. I know you would be a tremendous zoid pilot. You have the same attitude I had when I was your age," Kad replied.

_7 Years Later_

A black Command Wolf raced across the bare dessert oasis. The pilot was pushing the zoid to reach it's top speed, but before it could achieve it's maximum speed, the wolf overheated and grinded to a halt before collapsing.

Over the zoid's internal radio, a male's voice reported to the pilot. "That's enough for today. As soon as your command system comes back online, return to headquarters for a run-down of your run."

"Yes sir," the pilot replied. It was another male voice, this time more husky and strong. The pilot disengaged the radio, and sat silently in the cockpit of his zoid. After several minutes of silence, he said "So I guess you're not willing to push yourself that far, huh?"

The Command Wolf didn't make a sound. It just continued to lay on the ground, cooling down after overheating.

Reaching out his hands, the pilot stroked the control panel of his zoid and said "I'm sorry for trying to take you beyond what you're capable of. I just got carried away."

Within a few seconds of removing his hand from the control panel, his wolf's combat system had cooled down enough and was back online. The zoid stood up and the pilot took the controls again, pulling the zoid around and charging on back towards headquarters where he could view what he did wrong in piloting the Command Wolf.

"That's my wolf; I'm proud of you, Kad."

Arriving at headquarters, the pilot pulled his zoid up to a stop, and lowered the head so he was able to jump out. When the orange canopy of the cockpit lifted, it revealed a man in long black jeans with an open dark grey vest. His hair was blonde, short, and spiked up. It was an older Ace, three years after receiving his first zoid from his grandfather as an eighteenth birthday present, only a few weeks before his grandfather passed away due to his old age.

Jumping out of his Command Wolf, Ace landed with a soft thump. Before he went inside, he softly patted the giant foot of zoid.

Ace walked through the twin sliding doors to get to control room where his general awaited.

Once the General had acknowledged the presence of Ace, he nodded and turned to one of the uniformed men sitting at the computers. "Commence 'Operation Dugout'," he commanded.

"Yes, sir," the officer replied. He typed a code into the computer that sat in front of him, and the whole base began to sink into the desert sand. "Operation complete, sir."

"What did I do wrong this time?" Ace joked as he stood beside the General.

"Watch the footage we have and find out," he replied, turning from Ace to the screen.

A screen pixelated on the wall for a few seconds before a clear image of Ace's Command Wolf was being displayed. The single frozen image than began moving as Ace watched in anticipation of what he had done wrong in trying to work the Command Wolf to it's full speed.

The single video split into four separate screens that showed different views as Ace in the pilot's seat, the control panel and the zoid's exterior. In one of the screens, the control panel could see the temperature of the zoid rising. In another screen, Ace is seen pushing the throttle further and the thermometer began to rocket towards the 'Overheat' end of the scale.

The General paused the videos, and said "You pushed the throttle in too far before you gave it the slightest chance to cool down. If you are to get your Command Wolf to reach it's full speed, you need to punch the throttle, and then release the steam unit to get out the excess heat, then continue on. Before you know it, you've reached the full speed."

"How does that stop the unit from overheating again?"

"The Command Wolf is one of the few zoids that can release the heat produced by the engine. When it releases the steam, the engine cools down, even while it's accelerating."

"You know what? Fine. I'm going to go cause I'm tired and I've had a long day." Ace turned and began to walk away from the General.

"Have you decided yet?"

Ace paused as he got to the door. "I told you, I'll let you know when I have, and at the moment, I haven't." The twin sliding doors parted and Ace walked out to where his Command Wolf was waiting. As Ace jumped into the cockpit, he felt the ground underneath the zoid move as the platform was raised towards the roof which opened to reveal the clear blue sky shining above the plain desert. As the cockpit of the Command Wolf sealed shut, the platform locked in place and the zoid was activated. Standing up, Ace's zoid took off across the desert.


	2. Chapter 1  Dawn of a New Day

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 1 – Dawn of a New Day**

The black Command Wolf careered across the desert, the large metallic paws of the zoid crunching into the hard sand. The zoid charged towards a towering sand dune with no sign of slowing down.

"Come on, Kad," Ace said to his zoid. "We can make this."

His Command Wolf roared in response. The zoid charged ahead, gaining more and more speed.

"Lets try this again, and maybe this time it'll work," Ace said, almost to himself. He pushed the throttle to its limits as the thermometer on the control panel began to sky rocket. Flipping a switch to release the steam from the engine, the Command Wolf was covered in a cloud of steam before shooting out and beginning to climb the huge sand dune. Getting closer and closer to the top, Ace kept pushing the throttle to try and get more and more out of his zoid. Within a few short seconds, the Command Wolf had reached the top of the sand dune where a small camp had been set up.

When the Command Wolf reached the top of the sand dune, the zoid stood tall before collapsing only a few seconds later. The zoid let out a small groan.

Ace jumped out of the zoid's open cockpit and patted the zoid. "It's ok, Kad. You deserve a long," Ace said. He turned and walked over to the camp that was set up where he found his fellow bandits.

"Are they working you hard down at the barracks?" asked Scott, one of Ace's comrades.

"Boy, I tell you, if General Aston ever finds out I'm a bandit, I'm going to be in big trouble," Ace replied. "What's worse is that he keeps asking me to join. I don't want to join," he said, his fists clenching and face expressing anger.

"What's wrong with joining?"

Ace calmed himself down, his voice softening. "My grandfather was in the army, and he told me that it's a horrible job." Ace walked around the camp for a while before he got to his own tent. After he sat down, he was joined by Scott. When he turned to face Scott, his face wasn't as serious, it was more looking of sorrow.

"You never told me your grandfather was in the army."

"It was just something that never came up when we were talking. Nothing to tell you, to be honest."

Scott sighed before saying "Do you want the boys to put your Command Wolf in the hanger?"

"No, it needs to rest. It's Command System overheated. Once the system's cooled down, I'll take it to the hanger."

Taking a seat beside Ace, Scott asked "What about your father? Was he in the army?"

At the sound of the word 'father', Ace's eyes began to water. He pressed his gloved fingers against closed eyes trying to hold back the tears. Without saying a word, Ace got up and walked out of the tent.

* * *

_**Sorry it took so long, but I was planning to make the chapter long, but I decided to make them kind of short. It was originally meant to be a short story, so I'm trying to drag it out a bit more.**_

_**Anyway, let me know what you think so far.**_

_**Thanks, LOD**_


	3. Chapter 2 Life as a Bandit

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 2 – Life as a Bandit**

Ace lent against a tree within the enormous forest, his Command Wolf sitting beside him. His gaze was fixed on the cloudy blue sky hanging above the canopy of the trees. There was a small opening in the tree tops that allowed him a direct view through to the sky. As far as he was concerned, the rest of the world didn't exist.

"I wish life was always like this," he said, almost as if talking to his zoid. "Just going through life without a single care in the world."

White clouds floated in the blue sky, and as they floated by, glimpses of the bright blue sky put Ace's mind at rest as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, hands behind his head and leaning against the tree.

Ace's comrade, Scott, was standing at the door of the hanger back at camp. He was using a pair of binoculars to try and see if his companion was on the way back.

"Anything?" a fellow bandit asked as he walked up behind his fellow bandit.

"Nothing," Scott replied. "And it's getting dark so we won't be able to keep the hanger open for very long."

"Face it, Scott. He's not coming back tonight." He walked away as Scott took a final look before he stepped inside.

When Ace opened his eyes after an hour of rest, he found that it had grown very dark and it had begun raining, but he was undercover. He looked around, and beside him was sitting a young girl, watching him and smiling.

"You're finally awake," she said with a soft voice. She had long brown hair, and was wearing a plain white T-shirt.

"Who are you?" Ace asked.

"My name is Alexandra, but people just call me Alex." Ace was taken by her pretty, deep blue eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"What are you doing somewhere like here? How old are you?" He had many questions, but they were mainly a result of his shock of waking up to her watching eyes.

"Oh, I'm eighteen, but I just look young for my age," she replied with a smile. "And I was out here exploring with my zoid, like I have been every day for the past few years."

"You're a zoids pilot?"

"Yep. And I have been ever since I first hoped in a zoid when I was only three years old."

"Fifteen years, huh?" He sat up properly and continued the conversation as the rain continued to pour down heavily. "I've only been piloting since my grandfather passed away about three years ago. Ever since, I've been roaming the deserts as a bandit."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What about your mother and your father?"

Ace dropped his head, and tried to hide his tears. He wiped them away using the palm of his gloved hand. "I'm sorry," he said, trying to put on a smile. He lifted his head and said "My mother passed away during childbirth and my father abandoned me when I was only five years old. That's when I began to live with my grandfather."

"Oh, my god," Alexis said. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"It's ok," Ace said. He put on a smile. "I'm slowly managing to get over it, but I still can never forgive my father for leaving me."

Ace and Alexis continued their conversation without realising the rain had begun to let up, and was beginning to soften into a light shower.

* * *

_**This took me a little bit longer than I first intended, and it's generally taking a long time, but I'm planning to write a few more additions within the coming week.**_

_**Anyway, let me know what you think so far.**_

_**Thanks, LOD**_


	4. Chapter 3 Bandits Don't Have Friends

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 3 – Bandits Don't Have Friends**

Scott sat in Ace's tent, awaiting the return of his companion. He sat with a fellow Bandit by the name of Karl. "You think he's going to come back any time soon?" Karl asked.

"Probably not. It's been almost three days, now. Knowing him, he won't be back until the end of the week, at least," Scott replied. He took a sip out of the steel canister he had resting in his hand. "If he's gone any longer than that, that's when we'll need to begin searching for him. He's never been gone more than fives days without some form of contact."

"So he's got a record of running out on the clan?"

"I forgot you've only been here a few weeks. But yes, every few months or so, he tends to take some 'time to himself'," Scott explained, "and he usually goes on a journey for a couple of days. After about three to five days, he'll make some form of contact, and then he'll come back a few days later."

"Where does he go?"

"No idea. We've never had to go out and find him, he's always come back to us. And he never really tells about his little journeys, or where he tends to go. For all we know, he's travelled to the moon and back within a few days."

"So I guess you're expecting to receive a message from him within the next few days?"

"If we don't," he started, taking another sip from his water canister, "we just need to wait a little longer."

* * *

When Alex opened her eyes, she saw Ace standing a few metres away on the edge of the nearby cliff, at least a metre from the edge. She saw he had his arms folded in front of him, and wasn't moving. The light breeze was flowing through his growing blonde hair.

Ace was standing completely still, the only movement coming from his chest as he breathed in and out.

"Ace? Are you all right?" Alex asked, as she began to crawl closer to him.

He didn't respond. He only took one step closer to the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing? Get back here." She stood herself up and began moving closer to Ace. He was now only within stepping distance from the side of the cliff. "Ace, don't take another step."

As she spoke those words, Ace raised his right leg. It was at this moment, Alex tried to grab on to his shirt. She opened her eyes and jumped up in shock. All she was saw the dark night sky above, full of glowing stars.

"It was a dream," she whispered to herself. She turned her head to see that Ace was still sound asleep beside her. She lightly smiled before rolling back over and closing her eyes again. Alex's expression turned to worry as she asked herself "He would never really do that, would he?"

* * *

Waking up the very next morning, Alex instantly rolled over to check on Ace. As she did, she realised that he wasn't there. "Ace?" she said, waking with a start. She got up and looked around.

"What?" he asked, jumping through the trees. "Is something wrong?"

"Where were you?"

"Sorry, I was just out for a bit of a walk, and I was just coming back when I heard you calling for me." He put his hand on Alex's shoulder and asked "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a bad dream I had last night, and I thought it had come true."

"What was the dream about?"

Alex pulled away and turned her back to him. "It was nothing. Just one of those stupid dreams, you know?"

"You can tell me, Alex," Ace assured her, resting his hand on her back as he walked up behind her.

"No, Ace. No, I can't. Please, just let me keep this to myself."

"Ok, I'm sorry," he replied. "Should we start packing up so we can keep moving, or do you want to stay around a little bit longer?"

"Anywhere but here. I can't stay here any longer."

"That dream must've really freaked you out. But, I won't say any more. We'll get packing now and be on our way by lunch." He started packing away his belongs and loading up the Command Wolf, ready to begin moving on.

There was a minute of silence between the two. All that could be heard was the was the light sound of a soft breeze flowing through the leaves of the overhead trees.

"Alex?" Ace started, trying to break the silence between the two. "Don't you think you should be getting home? I remember you telling me that you used to come out into the forest whenever you get the chance."

Throwing one of the large bags into the cockpit of her grey and black Zaber Tiger, Alex didn't speak. She just continued getting ready to head off and move on.

"Alex?"

"I don't have a family, ok? They died when I was ten, so I've been living my life as a bandit, but I don't have a clan. I'm just a lone wolf."

"You're not a lone wolf any more, Alex. You've got me. Besides, you've never really been alone; you've always had your Tiger, just like me and my Wolf. I may be a bandit with allies and comrades, but I've never had a partner like him before." Ace looked up to his Wolf that was standing behind him, and he smiled.

Alex turned her head to look at her own zoid, and she couldn't help but smile, realising that Ace was right. _He's right... I've never been alone..._

* * *

_**First, sorry this one took so long, but with school kicking up, it's getting hard to update from time to time, especially when I really want to. But, here it is now.**_

_**A few people have commented on the size of these chapters, and the only reason for the shortness of these chapters is because this was intended to be a short story, so I'm just trying to drag it out. Anyway, I'll try and make the chapters a little bit longer, starting with the next one, even though this one is just a bit longer.**_

_**Anyway, let me know what you think so far.**_

_**Thanks, LOD**_


	5. Chapter 4 Rogue Doesn't Mean Going Solo

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 4 – Going Rogue Doesn't Mean Going Solo**

A small squad of five grey Command Wolves fired at the lone black Zaber Tiger; the Tiger responded with several shots from the shock cannon mounted on the underside of the Tiger. Two of the four shots managed to take out two of the five Wolves.

Inside the Tiger, the pilot was getting frustrated. "Any chance you could give me a hand, Ace?" It was Alex.

"Give me a chance; I'm just getting ready. Make sure you leave some of them for me," Ace replied, almost taunting his partner.

"Ace, this is the Republic we're fighting off. There are going to be plenty more by the time these guys are dealt with." Alex's Tiger fired several more shells from the shock cannon, as well as a barrage of shots from the back mounted Gatling Gun. The three remaining Command Wolves fell within an instant, but there were another seven Wolves that swarmed in to replace them.

The black Command Wolf, belonging to Ace, appeared atop the nearby sand cliffs. He instantly fired towards the Republic Forces, the back mounted cannon recoiling with every shot. It only took five shots to decapitate all seven Command Wolves.

"I thought you said you had friends in the Republic," Alex said as twelve more Command Wolves, as well as three Shield Ligers, began charging for the two zoids.

"Well, I do, but they won't let me talk to him." Ace's Command Wolf fired more shots towards the oncoming Republic zoids. The shots managed to decapitate seven of the Republic Command Wolves and one of the Shield Ligers.

Alex used her Zaber Tiger's Gatling Gun mounted on the back of the Tiger, and managed to take out the remaining five Command Wolves, as well as the final two Shield Ligers.

A large Iron Kong slowly made it's way towards the on-going fight. "Ace Dunstrack. Why am I not surprised that you, of all people, would unite with a rogue zoid pilot." It was General Aston of the Republic Army.

"General Aston. How nice to see you again. Isn't it sad that we ran into each other this way?"

"Yes, quite," Aston replied. "Now tell me, Ace. Why is it you'll join Alexis here, but you won't join the Republic army?"

"How do you know Alexis?"

"This isn't the first time I've had a run in with the Republic," Alex stepped in.

"You couldn't have told me that before?" Ace returned his attention to General Aston. "I haven't joined Alex, and I haven't joined the Republic because of what my Grandfather told me. Before he died, he told me something I will never forget. 'War means death', he said; 'War is watching your best friends die right before your eyes, and you being helpless. Don't ever join the army, Ace. Don't ever let them convince you that the army is where you belong.' It's because of those words that I want no part in any war or any side of the army."

"That's some strong words, but I hope you realise that any zoid pilot that isn't in league with either the Republic or the Empire will be hunted down."

"What?" he protested. "That's ridiculous!"

"Maybe you should reconsider joining us then, and save yourself being hunted by the rest of the continent."

"Not a chance. If they hunt me down, I'll fight my way out."

"And I'll be standing by him, all the way," Alex assured.

The conversation between the three was interrupted by two scouting Rev Raptors. "Ace, where have you been? We've been looking for you." As it turned out, the scouting Raptors were Scott and Karl from Ace's clan. "Are you coming back or not?" Scott asked.

"No; I'm leaving the clan," Ace said.

"So, you're finally joining the Republic?"

"Not even close, Scott. I'm not joining anyone. I'm just running free; I'm going rogue." Ace's Command Wolf turned and began to race of in another direction, away from Scott and General Aston. Within seconds of him racing away, Alexis began to follow him.

* * *

"What was all that about?" Alex asked.

The two zoids stood beside one another, their pilots sitting around a wood-burning camp fire. Both Ace and Alex were sitting on the dry sand; Ace's head was resting on her hands.

"Come on; you can tell me."

"It's nothing, Alex. I've just left my clan and I don't plan on joining the Army, so I'm going rogue, if you want to call it that."

"So, I guess this is goodbye then?"

Ace's head jerked up and said "Are you kidding me? I would never leave you. The fun I've had hanging around with you the past few days is incredible. I'd never give this up."

Alex gave Ace a soft, shy smile. He returned the smile.

There was a moment of silence between the two, but they didn't take their eyes off each other, despite the fact that the camp fire was sitting between the two.

After several moments, Alex's sight broke away from Ace, and she looked up towards the night sky above, just in time to see a shooting star.

"Make a wish," Ace said, watching as the shooting star disappeared into the night.

Alex smiled and dropped her head. "I don't need to," she whispered to herself.

Standing up and yawning, Ace walked past Alex, softly kissing her on the head. "Night, Alex. I'll see you in the morning."

Looking up to the sky, the shining silver stars above were like spots of silver glitter resting upon a midnight canvas; the stars reflected in Alexis' deep blue eyes. Alex turned to see Ace as he lay in the sleeping bag; she smiled and whispered "Night, Ace."

* * *

As the sun rose over the mountains that rested on the edge of the desert plain, the dark midnight sky changed to a beautiful orange colour covered the sky, combined with amazing pink clouds, made for a picturesque scene as the beautiful sky lay over the desert plain like a blanket.

Under this blanket of colours, Alex lay in the arms of her comrade, peacefully sleeping with a smile. As she quietly opened her eyes, her smile grew when she looked up and saw the face of Ace. She snuggled up to him and held onto his arm that was around her. "I just wish you knew, Ace," she whispered to him. "I just wish you knew how much I was falling for you." Alex closed her eyes again and basked in the warmth he was giving her, quietly falling asleep again.

An hour had passed before Ace finally opened his eyes to see a peaceful Alex snuggling up to his chest; at first, his expression was of confusion, but after a few seconds, he decided to smile and cuddle up to her. Seeing the beautiful sunrise above, Ace rested one hand behind his head and wrapped the other around Alex.

There was several minutes of silence before Alex re awoke. She looked up to see Ace smiling down at her.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," he greeted with a smile.

Alex couldn't help but blush, trying to turn away and hide it.

Softly putting his hand under Alex's chin, he turned her head back so they were once again face to face, gazing in to each others eyes. Unable to refrain himself, Ace leant towards Alex as he softly pulled her closer. They were so close that he could feel her soft breath on his lips; it felt warm. Closing their eyes, the two moved in and their lips connected with each others.

The moment he had been praying upon since they first met in the forest only a week ago had finally arrived.

Ace's hands softened as he held on to Alex's small waist. He felt Alex's hands running up his chest and over his shoulder; they linked around the beck of his neck.

Pulling away from the kiss, the two reopened their eyes and once again gazed into each others, smiling. It was only a matter of seconds before the two locked lips with each other once again, closing their eyes and savouring the intimate moment.

The sun overhead continued it's journey, the sky responding with a colour change to a light blue.

"So, what does this mean then?" Ace asked, laying with his arms around Alex who rested beside him.

Alex quietly giggled to herself. "Well," she started, "I guess we have two options at the moment. We could either pretend it didn't happen, or we could acknowledge the kiss and be a... you know, a couple?" She couldn't help but blush at the idea of her and Ace being together.

Softly kissing his new girlfriend on the forehead, Ace asked "Does that answer your question?"

"Of course it does," she replied with a smile, resting her head against Ace's chest.

* * *

Hours passed, but they felt like mere minutes.

Throughout the day, Ace and Alex had managed to make their way from the middle of the desert all the way to the forest sitting just on the edge of the desert plains. The forest rested at the feet of the tall and legendary 'Iron Monger' mountain ranges, so called for the reason that one of the battles from the great war were fought atop this range; the same battles that Ace's grandfather fought in. The ranges are known as the 'Iron Monger' mountain ranges for the fact that a legendary warrior of the same name went missing during the battle and hasn't been seen since.

As the night sky rose over the planet with the moon, the sun disappeared behind the curvature of Zi.

The camp fire's flame shone in the night, creating light over the small camp site created for Ace and Alex to spend the night.

Ace decided to break the silence by talking to his now girlfriend who was sitting on the other side of the burning fire. "I have a question," he started. "What were you doing sleeping in my arms this morning?"

"I couldn't help myself," Alex replied, slightly blushing. "I was so in love with you that I just thought-"

"Whoa, whoa. Rewind a second. You love me?"

Alex turned bright red and dropped her head, trying to hide her embarrassment. She nodded, still keeping her head down.

Ace had a very happy smile. He stood up and sat over beside Alex, putting his arm around her and kissing her on the cheek. He softly whispered in her ear. "I love you too."

She turned to face him. Holding her hand against his cheek, Alex softly pressed her lips against his.

* * *

_**Well, after a few weeks, here it is (finally). The fourth chapter.**_

_**So, I decided to edge the love along a little bit. It was originally intended to be a few chapters away, but I decided that maybe I should move it along a little bit.**_

_**Anyway, let me know what you think so far.**_

_**Sincerely, LOD**_


	6. Chapter 5 Legend

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 5 – Legend**

Sand dunes exploded as shells fired from the Republic's Iron Kongs struck. The Republic was attacking the rogue zoid bandits, and they weren't leaving without one of two situations occurring: the bandits joined the Republic forces, or they perished.

Alarms sounded underneath the giant sand dunes; the hidden hangers were evacuating as many zoids as possible before the Republic destroyed everything.

"Go, go, go!" the conductor yelled. "Get those Redlers airborne! Mobilise those Rev Raptors! Lets move, move, move!"

Pilots were racing around the hanger trying to get their zoids out as fast as possible. Scott was one of those pilots, trying his hardest to get his Shield Liger out of the hanger so that he could try and fight off the Iron Kongs. He didn't care about leaving; instead, he wanted to assist everyone else in leaving. As his Shield Liger sprung into life, Scott headed towards the attacking Republic zoids.

"Scott, what are you doing?" the conductor called over the intercom.

"I'm making sure everyone gets out of here," he replied calmly, almost yelling so that his voice could be heard over the alarms.

The Shield Liger raced out and stood before the four Republic Iron Kongs that were attacking Scott's fleeing bandits. With the shield generators activating, the Liger let out loud roar as a purple shield covered the body of the Liger, preventing damage.

"Come on!" he challenged.

All of the opposing zoids began firing at the lone Shield Liger, but it managed to dodge every blast with amazing agility.

The Shield Liger revealed its missile pods that rested on the side of the liger's body. Deactivating the energy shield, Scott fired the missile pods at the oncoming zoids, managing to take out two of the seven advancing Iron Kongs. He reactivated the shields and began running again, trying to think of some way he could out do them.

The Iron Kongs slowly turned around, trying to keep up with the racing Shield Liger.

_'That's it!_ He thought. _'The turn so slow that maybe I can get behind them and take them out!_ He piloted his Shield Liger around the Republic zoids with incredible speed before he deactivated his shields again and fired on the Iron Kongs, taking out three of the remaining five zoids. The shields were once again activate and he began running. _'Two more... Just two more...'_

As the Shield Liger raced around the two Iron Kongs, one of the large zoids used its large fist to knock the Shield Liger over, damaging the smaller zoid to a great extent.

"Come on, move! Move!" Scott was getting agitated as he tried his best to get his zoid to get up, but to no prevail.

"That's what you get for trying to out do the Republic," on of the Iron Kong pilots taunted as his zoid stood over the damaged Shield Liger. The Iron Kongs turned towards the hide out of Scott's comrades. "Now watch as your friends suffer." The two Iron Kongs began laying a blanket of shells down on the bandit's hideout.

Scott watched on in horror from his disabled Shield Liger as the hideout of his fellow bandits burned under a raging fire.

The Iron Kongs began to walk away before one of them turned and fired a large shell at the downed liger. "We won't have to worry about them any more." The two laughed menacingly as the zoids returned to headquarters.

Pulling himself from the shattered cockpit of the damaged Shield Liger, battered and bruised, Scott tried to get closer to the hideout. "No... No!" he cried out.

* * *

Above the thick forest, the 'Iron Monger Ranges' stood tall, casting a late-afternoon shadow over the forest as Ace and Alex slowly crawled along the forest floor with their two zoids walking side by side.

"Do you think it's true what they say about the Iron Monger?" Alex asked as her black Zaber Tiger walked slowly alongside her companion's smaller black Command Wolf.

"Why? You getting scared?" Ace taunted; he couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"Seriously, Ace. Do you think it's true? All rumours must start somewhere."

Ace sighed. "Well, I suppose there is a chance that the Iron Monger does exist, but if it does, I know that we'll be able to fight him off. When combined, we're pretty much invincible."

"Don't say that. Even you know that's not true. Strong, yes; invincible, no."

The two zoids slowly made their way through the thick forest, looking more like a jungle than a forest, occasionally knocking over trees in order to make their way through.

Both Ace and Alex spent a few moments in silence before Alex tried to make conversation again. "Where do you think we're going to head after we reach the other side of this mountain range?"

There was a few seconds of Ace thinking before he sighed and said "Well... There are plenty of places we still haven't seen yet. I think we just go wherever our zoids take us. There's not much else we can do."

"I've heard that there's a village just past this mountain range that has an entire lake that's like a hot spring. It's a fuelled from the mountain we're standing on top of right now." She looked over to Ace's Command Wolf and heard that he was sighing. "Come on," she said trying to persuade him. "We could use the rest."

Ace was still in silence.

"Ace?" She waited a few seconds. "Are you alright?"

He finally came to focus again. "Huh? Sorry, I was... preoccupied."

"Is everything ok? Do you want to stop and have a rest?"

The Command Wolf kept walking. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why? You scared?" Alex tormented, mocking Ace's words.

The sun that was sitting on the horizon had begun to set and the night sky began to roll over, and with it came a sense of fear that crept into the hearts of the two zoid pilots.

Light of the small camp fire provided enough illumination for the two as they rested and cuddled in each others arms, both huddled underneath a thick blanket, but both still had scared of what possibly lay in wait within the forest, _deep _within the forest.

"You don't really think there's something out there, do you?" Alex asked, looking up at her boyfriend.

"I _hope_ there's nothing out there, but I have a strange feeling that there might just be," he replied, resting his head on top of Alex's, cuddling her even tighter. "But don't worry, sweet heart. If there is something, we _will_ fight them and we _will_ win."

Alex looked up at Ace who was looking over at the fire, staring as if his mind was in a completely other place. "Are you alright?" she asked, trying to draw his attention.

He looked down, a disappointed expression across his face. "Yeah, I'm fine; it just feels like-"

Ace was interrupted by the sound of rustling in the bushes behind him. He jumped up, making sure he was in front of Alex in order to protect her. With one hand on a knife he had hidden under his jacket, he demanded "Show your self!"

The bushes parted ways and a teenage boy, not much older than the two, scurried out. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you." It was a young man, in his early twenties. He had short stubble growing across his face and had shortish brown hair, as well as deep, green eyes. He wasn't very well built, but was still fit enough to be travelling around the forest.

Ace removed his hand from his jacket and returned it to a neutral position. "It's no problem at all. Are you lost?"

"Oh, no. I'm a traveller, and I always tend to wander around." The boy seemed nervous and shaky as if trying to hide something, but Alex and Ace hadn't noticed. "So, are the two of you zoids pilots?" he asked.

"How did you know?" Ace asked in response.

"I saw your zoids as I was getting closer. I was actually drawn here by the light, so I thought there might be someone else here."

There was a slight moment of pause between the three before Alex asked the boy "So, what's your name?"

"I go by many names, but you can call me Larry."

"So, Larry. Have you heard all of the rumours about the Iron Monger?"

"Actually, I have heard a few stories about him. There have been some strange things happening over the past few weeks too, and people keep blaming it on him."

"Well, you never know."

There were several seconds of silence between the three, apart from the crackling of the fire that separated them.

"Have you ever been to the village that rests on the other side of this mountain?"

"Sadly, no. That's where I'm actually trying to go," Larry said, dropping his head.

"That's exactly where we're heading; how about going with us?"

Larry showed signs of a soft smile. "Sounds like fun. Are you guys getting there in these two?" he said, looking up towards the two zoids belonging to Ace and Alex.

"That's the plan," Alex said. "It's quicker and easier than walking."

Stretching, Ace said "Well, we've had a big day, so why don't we all catch some rest and get an early start tomorrow?"

"Sounds good," Alex replied, cuddling up to him.

As the fire died out, the group of three slowly started to fall asleep under the moonlight.

* * *

As Ace woke, he heard to the sound of birds singing in the bright sunlight of the opening in the canopy. As his view began to clear, he saw that Larry's sleeping bag was still lying on the ground, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Alex," he said, trying to wake her up. "Where's Larry?"

"Who?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Larry; that guy we met last night."

"I thought he was right..." her words trailed off as she saw that he was no where to be found. "Where would he have gone?"

Ace turned around to check on their zoids, both of which were still standing in their place. "He couldn't have gotten far without a zoid."

There was a rustle in the trees before Larry had emerged with a bag of fruit that he'd assembled. "Morning," he said with a smile. "I decided I might try and help as much as possible, so here you go." Larry placed the bag of fruit on the ground beside Ace and Alex while he sat down beside them and started eating.

Before it was mid morning, the three had eaten every piece of fruit that was in the bag and were ready to head off, continuing through the mountain. Larry was sitting inside the cockpit of Ace's Command Wolf, sitting in the co-pilots seat.

"How long do you think until we reach the village?" Ace asked Alex through the Wolf's communicator.3

"I think that we should be able to reach it by mid-afternoon; it shouldn't be that far away. We've been travelling for a couple of hours so there's probably a good hour or two until we actually see it."

The two went quiet again.

It was another hour and a half until the three finally had signs of the village; just beyond the remaining forest rested a small village. The small village was built on the edge of a lake that stretched from one side of the mountain all the way to the other side. The water of the lake was as clear as could be and the temperature was warm at the point that anyone could relax in the soothing temperatures.

Departing their zoids just outside of town, Ace, Larry and Alex all walked into the village; while Larry broke off in search of something to do, Ace and Alex both treated themselves to a relaxing time in the lake.

"It feels nice to finally get a rest," Alex said. She rested against the bank with her head laying back, her eyes closed. The water softly lapped at her skin.

"Knowing our luck, it won't stay relaxing for long; and with the rumours of that 'Iron Monger' hanging around here, I would bet my zoid that we're going to have a run in with it."

A fellow swimmer in the lake overheard the two and said "The Iron Monger?"

"I guess you know of it?" Ace asked.

"Oh yes," the woman said. "We know all to well of it, and we're always afraid he's going to return."

"Return?" Alex asked. "When was the last time he was here?"

"A few months ago; every so often, the Iron Monger gets angry and attacks the town; we're used to hiding in a bunker until his wrath is over, and it just means that we need to rebuild the town."

"How do you know when he's going to attack?"

"We don't, really. They're always at random."

"Has anyone ever seen the Iron Monger?" Ace asked.

"Anyone who's seen it is never around long enough to tell the tale. Rumours have said that it's a large monster that is usually at bay, but then he turns savage and begins his 'hunt'. People say that he's a large lion-type monster with a metal suit of armour."

Ace began pondering as the woman told what she knew of the Iron Monger.

"We're expecting an attack any time soon. We've never gone more than two months without at least one attack, and it's been just over a month and a half."

"Has anyone ever tried to stand up to him?"

"Like I said, anyone who's seen him has never lived to tell about it. Men have disappeared trying to find him and kill him while he's in his slumber."

"It's never worked?"

"Not once."

"Sounds like something I want to be a part of," Ace said.

Alex said to Ace "Do you think it might be a good idea to stay around long enough to try and take this thing out?"

"I think it's the perfect idea, then they'll never have to worry about living in fear."

* * *

A day or two had passed and there was no sign of the Iron Monger, which only bought the villagers fear. Ace and Alex had not seen Larry since their arrival and were beginning to suspect that something was going to happen, but they just didn't know what.

In the small village, everything was peaceful as usual.

All of a sudden, a man raced through the middle of the village. "Everyone one get to the bunker!" he screamed. "The Iron Monger's back!"

The village was in a panic, but Ace and Alex were ready. The woman they had met in the lake, her name being Katrina, was in the co-pilot seat of the Command Wolf, invited long by Ace to see the Iron Monger.

"When we see the first signs of it, start running and then wait for your chance to fire," Ace warned.

"Got it," Alex replied.

The trees began falling, showing the the Iron Monger was making it's descent to the village. Ace sat quietly thinking _here it comes_.

A large, silver Shield Liger burst out of the trees and jumped over the top of the lake, getting over to the village.

"Now!" Ace called.

The two zoids parted and began firing at the Shield Liger, Ace using his Command Wolf's long range rifle and Alex using her Zaber Tiger's Gatling Gun.

The unsuspecting Shield Liger was stunned by the round of ammunition being fired towards it, firing back at the two without the slightest sign of aim.

Within two minutes of the constant fire, the silver Shield Liger was completely immobilised; the armour of the zoid was completely cracked and damaged almost to the point were it was beyond repair, although it wasn't quite at that stage yet.

The Command Wolf and Zaber Fang walked over to inspect the fallen liger, discovering that there was someone inside the cockpit.

Ace jumped down from the cockpit of his Wolf and opened the liger's cockpit. When he opened it, the first thing he saw was a familiar face, unconscious. "Larry," he sighed. "Why am I not surprised."

Alex also jumped out of her Zaber Fang and joined Ace beside the liger. "So that explains why we haven't seen him in a while," she said.

"Sure does," Ace replied.

* * *

When Larry finally woke up, he came to the realisation that he was moving. As his vision became clear, he saw that he was being dragged by two men dressed in uniforms. They stopped moving, and one of the guards released his grip before grabbing a hold of him a few seconds later. They began walking again, but not very far this time.

The two guards let go and Larry looked around the room he was in before he finally pin-pointed exactly where he was.

Republican Prison.

The guards slammed the heavy, iron-barred door shut and locked it with a key to match. Outside the jail cell stood a face Larry had seen before.

"Ace?" he said. "Is that you?" He raced over to the bars that held him in and cried "Why am I here? Please help me."

"You're the one that's been terrorising that small village for years on end," Ace said. He was leaning against the wall opposite the cell, one leg supporting him and his arms folded across his chest. "Why'd you do it?"

"I didn't know what I was doing. There was a man; I met him when I was a only a teenager. He was controlling me somehow. I haven't seen him since. Please, you've got to believe me!"

Alex walked over to join Ace, holding a manilla folder full of documents. "Aaron James Barrett the third," she read. "You've been in quite a lot of trouble. Says here that you caused a lot of trouble in the past ten years."

"It wasn't me. I mean, it wasn't my doing. I was being controlled. It was that man; he put a spell on me or something."

"We'll believe you when we see some evidence to prove that story," Alex replied. "Until then, you'll be under the constant watch of the Republic. Have fun," she said as her and Ace turned and began walking down the corridor of jail cells.

As they left, Aaron hung his head against the bars. As he lifted his head, his eyes had turned to a glowing, neon green.

* * *

_**Well, it's been several months since my last upload, but with school picking up, it's been hard. I'll even admit, this chapter started to die around the middle, really fast; the only reason for this is struggling with ideas. I tried to pick it back up at the end with -well, what I think was- very little success.**_

_**However, I have managed to write several more chapters and design the story a little bit better, so prepare for more uploads in the coming few weeks.**_

_**Let me know what you think; any improvements/changes/ideas will be considered, and if I happen to use one of your ideas, you'll also get a special mention.**_

_**Sincerely, LOD**_


	7. Chapter 6 Man Down

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 6 – Man Down**

The desert sand was dry and hot, reflection immensely of the sun. The sand dunes were torture, going up and down all over the place. Plodding on through the desert's dry sand felt like trying to race through thick, brown mud; it felt impossible.

Scott was slowly making his way through the desert sand, up and down and over dunes, struggling with almost nothing. His appearance was incredibly ragged; his shirt torn, missing his left sleeve, his right sleeve almost in shreds, hanging on by a mere thread. His long jeans were reflecting his shirt and were reflecting on his condition. Scott had taken a strip of his clothes and wrapped it around his mouth, protecting himself from inhaling too much of the dirt and dust.

The sky overhead didn't help anything. There was nothing but blue sky stretching from one side of the immense desert oasis all the way to the other. Hanging in the middle of the of the sky was a glowing ball of fire; the sun's heat was far too incredible for someone to handle.

With hardly any food, and only a bottle of water at his disposal, he had managed to survive three days in the desert; but it was all quickly coming to an end. Scott's water was all but gone, and he had eaten every last crumb of his food.

"Well," he said to himself, his voice dry and sore. "This is it old boy." He was stumbling in the sand, and his words were all over the place. "You'd think that if those boys had gotten away safely, they'd be back for you, even if you were dead and buried."

He collapsed on the dry sand, but he took no notice of the heat. He lay there, the strip of clothing protecting his mouth. As he lifted his head with the remaining energy he had left in him, he say a shine off in the distance, flying high above the desert sand. When he slowly closed his eyes, the object was close enough to see, and he saw that of a purple Redlers flying towards him. As it drew closer, he saw what resembled the bandit's insignia. With his head dropping to the ground again and his eyes closing, he saw two men racing towards him with medical supplies before he finally lost conciousness.

* * *

"Ace!"

As he finally came into focus, Ace realised that Alex was calling his name. "Sorry, Alex. I was kind of distracted."

"What were you thinking about?" She asked as the two zoids plodded through the dense forest. "You've been doing that a lot more, recently."

"I can't help it. Something keeps nagging at me."

"Well, whatever it is just put it aside for now. We're at the edge of the forest; it looks like nothing but desert from here on out for a few days."

The two zoids kept walking, one heavy foot in front of the other, coming down with a sandy _thump_.

"What do we know about this desert?" Alex asked.

"I don't really know. I don't even see it on the map _anywhere_," he said, adding emphasis.

"A desert doesn't just appear out of nowhere, Ace. It's got to be on the map somewhere."

"Well, you take a look at the map, then." A strange feeling came over him as his voice got louder, almost a feeling of anger but not quite as strong. _Is my past coming back to get me? I've always been a hothead_, he admitted. He shook it aside and continued watching the passing landscape, trying to figure it out on the map.

"Ok, so may you were right. I can't find it anywhere on here either."

"Told you," he mumbled under his breath.

The ground beneath the Command Wolf's foot started to give way, but it wasn't enough to pull him down.

"This doesn't look good," he said, yanking his zoid's controls to get it out of the way. It leapt high to get clear of the hole that had opened up. It was only very shallow, probably one metre deep by four metres in diameter, enough trap his wolf's foot.

"Do you think there are any more?"

"Probably. But I don't have enough left to find out."

The two continued on slowly, several more holes opening up beneath their feet.

_This is getting ridiculous_, Ace though. _What could have caused all these holes to form?_

All of a sudden, more holes formed around them in an almost perfect circle before a crack in the ground joined each hole to each other. The sand fell away and the two zoids fell uncontrollably down. Even though the fall was two hundred metres and felt like minutes, it was over in a matter of seconds.

The Zaber Tiger landed flat on it's right side with a loud, metallic _crack_ that seemed to echo throughout what looked like some kind of artificial, metal cave. It was only a fraction of a second until the Command Wolf followed, landing on it's left side with another loud _crack_. The barrel of the long-range rifle on the wolf's back snapped in two on collision with the ground.

Both zoids were now out-of-action.

The ground was completely flat, metallic and matched the two visible walls and the ceiling they had fallen through.

Alex climbed out of the Zaber Tiger's still functioning cockpit virtually unharmed. She raced over to the Command Wolf and saw Ace trying to pull himself out of the shattered orange tinted screen-cockpit. Ace had cradling his right which seemed to have taken most of the force from the shattered screen, but he also had his right eye closed which looked like it had a large cut-like wound that ran from the middle-right of his forehead, just above his eye-brow, to his right cheekbone, but it was hard to tell with all the blood.

She helped him out and lowered him down to the ground, searching both the Wolf and the Tiger for any emergency medical supplies that she could use to aid him.

When she returned to him, he was breathing heavy but slowly. _He is an ex-bandit, I suppose. He has a very strong pain threshold._ She didn't care; she only wanted to help him. Opening the med-kit they had, she wrapped up his arm first, carefully staking out pieces of the screen that were still in his arm, before she wrapped a bandage around his head to cover his eye, unsure of what else she could do. The bandage was immediately stained with blood from his wound.

"Well," she started. "I helped as much as I could but I don't know what else there is I can do." She didn't expect him to reply so she sat leaning against the Command Wolf beside him.

"I wouldn't even know what to do in this situation," he said suddenly.

"I can't get up and go for a walk around and leave you behind," she said. "And I can't load you up into the Zaber Tiger and go for a look cause it's busted."

"Is there any way we could fix them?"

"You mean _I_ can fix them. You're in no position to do anything at the moment."

"Ok, is there anything _you_ can do to fix them?"

"Well," she said, grunting as she stood up, "I suppose I could try a few things, but it might take a while."

"We got time."

Alex couldn't help but smile at her boyfriend's positive look on things. "Yes, I suppose we do."

* * *

_**I'll let you in on a little secret:**_

_**The only reason I haven't been updating "Zoids: A Time of War" in a few months is (five months, to be exact), not only because I've been working on getting more chapters of this done, but I've also got another FanFic (or two) in the production stages and waiting in the wings.**_

_**It's kind of "hush-hush", but hopefully not for much longer.**_

_**Just letting you know what's going on.**_

_**Sincerely, LOD**_

_**(oh, and I will be changing my name soon, but after I do, I will still be signing these "Zoids: ATOW" chapters as LOD.)**_


	8. Chapter 7 The Doctor

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 7 – The Doctor**

The tunnel—which they _still_ hadn't found on any map—was being filled with the tinkering and the buzzing of the tools that Alex was using to try and salvage the two zoids that she was beginning to think were beyond repair.

That didn't stop her from trying.

Ace was still sitting beside his zoid, leaning against its damaged head, the remains of the cockpit on the ground around him. He was still bandaged up pretty well, but he was at least able to change it himself without worrying about interrupting Alex in the middle of work; he still wasn't quite at the point where he could walk around and help out, but he would try his best whenever he felt up to it, passing Alex anything that she needed.

"You alright down there, Ace?" she asked from the top of her Tiger.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." He stretched his arms back and yawned, but it probably didn't help his injuries at all.

"I would expect so. You've been awake for two days. You need to sleep."

Alex watched Ace go over and sit himself beside his Wolf, over at the wall instead so that he can look back over at his Zoid. She saw him close his visible eye and thought he drifted off to sleep until he said "No cheating."

"What?"

"If I have to stop, you have to stop." He patted the floor beside him and said "Come on."

Alex couldn't resist him. She climbed down from the top of her Tiger and made her way over to his side, putting her head on his left shoulder, knowing that his right arm wasn't still fully recovered.

She couldn't stand seeing her boyfriend in such a state—as far as she knew, his arm might be able to heal soon, but his eye was more than likely going to cause him life-long trouble. She didn't want to peel that bandage off ever again.

It was the largest gash she'd ever seen, and she _knew _that it was a lot worse than it looked, and unless he got it looked at sooner or later, he was in big trouble.

She looked up towards the hole in the roof that they'd fallen through and saw that the sun had set and the dark, navy blue of the night sky was above, many hundreds of stars spread out. "I hope we get out of here soon," she said.

Alex closed her eyes and the next thing she knew, she was being woken up by a tinkering sound. She didn't want to open her eyes just yet, so she felt around and determined that Ace was still holding her, but he must have been asleep. _So who's tinkering, then?_

That thought made her eyes jolt open. She saw the sun peeking through the still remaining hole in the roof before she looked over to the two zoids and saw her Zaber Tiger standing in front of her. On top of her zoid, she saw a man, no older than thirty years old, standing on top of her zoid inspecting every inch of it.

"Hey!" she called. "What do you think you're doing to my Tiger?"

She knew it was going to wake Ace up, but she didn't have much of a choice.

"Well, that's no way to thank me for restoring Zaber Tiger," the man replied. He laughed, almost like a maniac, only scaled down a little bit. He jumped down off the zoid in time to get a flying right-handed punch fist from Alex.

"That's _my _Tiger and I don't like _anyone _touching it."

The man rubbed his cheek where Alex's fist connected with his face. "You could at least say _thank you_."

"And why should I?"

"Take another look at your zoid."

He was right. It was standing tall and proud and, from the outside, everything looked like it was fixed. She climbed into the cockpit to see that everything was fully functional, and she let out a shout of joy. Alex jumped down out of the cockpit and pulled the man off the ground and hugged him. "Thank you! How did you do it?"

"Well, I assume you did a lot of the work on it before I came along? You were on the right path, but there were just a few more things you needed to do before it began functioning again."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed again.

"You're very welcome." After the hug was finished, he introduced himself. "I'm Dr. D. So, who is it I'm helping out here?"

"Are you a _real _doctor, or an _engineer_ doctor?"

"I'm an _engineer_ doctor."

"Oh, well I'm Alex, and that over there is Ace."

Dr. D. looked over to Ace who was still against the wall, slightly waving in acknowledgement. "Oh, my." Dr. D. raced over and examined him and saw that he was in a very bad way. "What happened to you?"

"We fell through that." Ace looked up and directed the Doctor to the whole in the tunnel roof.

The Doctor followed his view before turning back and motioning to the bandages around Ace's head, which were blood-stained, even now. "May I?"

"I thought you said you were an _engineer_ doctor," he replied.

"That doesn't mean I don't know anything about being a medical doctor. I know the basics."

Ace moved his head forward so Dr. D. could untie the bandages, which he did. Alex turned away before the first bandage was off because she still didn't want to see what was underneath.

"Oh, my word!" It was obvious he was stunned silent.

"What do you think?" Ace asked.

"Well, I think you were _very _lucky."

"How do you figure that?"

"That wound managed to miss your optic nerve, as well as your eye, so there is more than a ninety percent chance that you'll be able to see again, but I wouldn't recommend you open it any time soon." He began replacing the bandage with a new one. "You're also lucky that the bleeding isn't too much. But, at worst, you're going to have a big scar there. There's nothing else to worry about."

"So, you are _kind of _a real doctor," Ace said.

"_Kind of_," Dr. D. winked.

"Is it gone?" Alex's words were muffled by her hands.

"Don't worry, it's gone," the Doctor said.

"So, Doc." Ace looked over to his Wolf and nodded his head. "Is there anything you can do with my wolf over there?"

"I took a look at your zoid while you were asleep and I should be able to fix it, but it will take more time than it did for the Tiger; it's _not_ going to be an over-night job."

"But the question is, _can you fix it_?"

"If we have any way of getting it out of here and to my lab, we should be fine."

"And how do we do that?"

Doctor D. put his hand to his chin and thought for a second. "I suppose I could take the tiger..." he suggested.

"No way!" Alex protested. "Nope, sorry. Not going to happen."

"Then we need to find something we can transport this thing on."

"How did you get here in the first place?"

"Gustav."

"Where is it?"

"Down there," he said, pointing towards the darkness.

"Does it have a trailer?"

"No, but I can get one."

"Well, you go and get one while we wait here."

"I could be a while, but just hold tight." He disappeared into the darkness and the echoing sound of a Gustav travelling away from them began to fade.

"Now to wait," Alex said, sitting down beside Ace.

* * *

_**Another... dodgy chapter, to say the least.**_

_**I'm having trouble keeping this interesting, so if anyone has **_**any ****_ideas that could pick this up, I'll be glad to listen and take anything into consideration._**

_**By the way, if you didn't quite get it, this is about forty or fifty years before the events of Zoids: Chaotic Century and Guardian Force, so Dr. D. is somewhere around twenty-five to thirty-ish, but I can't imagine that even **_**that's****_ right. Just use your imagination, folks._**

_**Anyway, that was an interesting thing I decided to put in. And like always, I'll see you in the next chapter.**_

_**Sincerely, LOD**_


	9. Chapter 8 An Ally Gained

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. I, however, own any and all original Zoids and Characters created throughout _Zoids: A Time of War_.

* * *

**Zoids: A Time of War**

**Chapter 8 – An Ally Gained**

Scott opened his eyes but it took longer than he would've liked to for his vision to focus, and when he could finally see clearly, he realised that he was in an infirmary of some sorts. It was ten times more advanced than what they had at his bandit's camp, so he could _assume_ that they weren't at home.

There was someone sitting across from his bed, someone he didn't recognise.

"Y... you. Who are you? Where... am I?" He was struggling to get his words out.

"You're in the Sandstone, a small town just on the outskirts of the desert we found you in," the man said, his long black hair covering his eyes.

"_You_ found me? No, no, no. That can't be right. My bandits found me."

"_You're_ bandits? Is that right?"

"That's right. I'm their new leader."

"Since when?"

"Since our best left. He was first in line, he left, I got the job."

The man got up and headed towards the door, but not without a final word. "You might want to rally up some rebels, because there's a storm coming." And with that, he left, leaving Scott dazed and confused.

_A storm?_

* * *

Doctor D. had pulled through and returned with his Gustav and a trailer to transport the critically damaged Command Wolf, dragging it back through the tunnel and to his lab, which was even deeper in the never-ending tunnel.

It was certainly well lit and there was plenty of sophisticated equipment laying around, most of which looked ancient and broken—but looks can be deceiving, especially when the Doctor went over to it and began working with it. It powered up like it had never stopped working.

"The problem with your Command Wolf is that a portion of the Zoid Core was damaged—not _destroyed_, but damaged," Doctor D. explained.

"Can it be fixed?" Ace asked, sitting on of Doctor D.'s chairs.

"Of course it can. I've been fixing these sorts of problems since I got my degree."

'I just don't want to lose my partner; he means a lot to me."

Doctor D. put his hand on Ace's shoulder to reassure him that everything was going to be fine once he found the right equipment, most of which was on the ground or hanging up on the walls.

"Just let me get a few things and I'll get to work. But remember, this might take a while."

"As long as you fix him, Doc."

he searched around the room and pulled down a few items that looked like a strange collection of tools. "One question," he said suddenly. "Would it be so bad if I had to remove some of the armour of the chassis?"

"As long as it can be replaced or modified in some how, it doesn't matter. Just get him working, please."

"I'll do my best." He found a few more things before he made his way over to the downed Command Wolf and laid them all on the floor carefully. He picked up one at a time and began using them, carefully removing piece by piece of the Command Wolf's shell before he could get to the all important Zoid Core.

He was right.

The Zoid Core had been dented from the fall through the roof of the tunnel. "I think this just proves how weak the Command Wolf's shell can really be, especially when it needs to be at its strongest."

Ace had once again fallen asleep, too tired to even move, with Alex laying down in his arms.

And with that, Doctor D. got to work, attempting to do anything he could that would allow Ace's Command Wolf to live once again.

* * *

When Ace awoke, he saw that Doctor D. was still hard at work with the Command Wolf with Alex assisting him in any way she could. Most of the armour on the left side had been removed, and the core was quite visible, as well as the dent.

Alex turned her head for a fraction of a second and saw that Ace was awake, turning back towards him and giving him a smile.

He managed a smile back, but when he tried to get up, he noticed his joints were all stiff and sore.

"You may need to rest for a bit longer," Doctor D. said. "I've administered some medicine to you that should assist your body in repairing itself."

Alex made her way over to Ace and gave him a light kiss on the forehead. "By the time your body has repaired itself, the Doctor and I will have your wolf up and running again, which means we'll be able to get out of here."

"But what are we going to do when we get out of here?" he asked.

"Don't you want to continue travelling? Seeing what we can find?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know any more. It's bad enough that right now, I'm in a state where I've got two pretty bad injuries, and my wolf is out-of-action."

Alex just sat down beside him, almost defeated. "So, that's it? Two injuries and a few problems with your wolf and you're ready to quit?"

He shrugged again.

"Listen, just get some more rest. You've had a rough few days, so you're probably not thinking straight."

"Fine." Ace's tone was quite reluctant. He simply closed his eyes again.

* * *

_**So, once again, a terrible chapter update, but to be honest, I've had terrible writers block for months now, and since it's been so long, I have no idea where this was story was intended to go, so unless I can come up with something in the next two months or so, I may be discontinuing this story in favour of another.**_

_**I know that not many people read this one, so it probably won't matter much, but this is just to let you guys know.**_

_**Sincerely, LOD.**_


End file.
